Despite the many benefits associated with cardiac rehabilitation utilization, the elderly have poor rates of participation in this type of program. Increasing cardiac rehabilitation utilization among the elderly would increase secondary prevention and self-management of coronary heart disease (CHD); enhance quality of life; and decrease risks of mortality and disability. Illness representations, patient perceptions of disease meanings that guide behavior, are associated with cardiac rehabilitation utilization in the elderly. Inaccurate illness representations of CHD occur frequently in the elderly and are amenable to intervention. Therefore, a prospective, randomized, control group design with a theory based, nurse-implemented intervention to increase cardiac rehabilitation utilization and optimize accurate illness representations of CHD among the elderly is proposed. Intervention and control group participants will be compared at 1 and 4 months post-discharge on cardiac rehabilitation utilization and illness representations of CHD. It is hypothesized that intervention participants will demonstrate greater rates of cardiac rehabilitation utilization and increased accuracy of illness representations of CHD, compared to control group participants.